Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus: the story of one of Australia’s favourite political memes
OK, Josh, so there’s a leadership challenge incoming, but everyone is talking about this “Fantastic.Great move.Well done Angus” meme, so where did it come from?It’s one of the great memes of Australian political history, Krishani.Let’s go back to May 2019, when Taylor was the minister for energy in the Morrison government.Just weeks before then PM Scott Morrison would win “the unwinnable election” against Bill Shorten, Taylor was in the midst of local politicking, posting on Facebook about transport projects in his electorate of Hume.
“1000 extra carparks for rail commuters right across the north of Hume!” he posted online, with a video of himself speaking to the camera outside a local train station,So far, so normal,But deep in the comments section, one comment among the ordinary residents heaping praise on the announcement was spotted,The comment? “Fantastic,Great move.
Well done Angus”.The commenter? Angus Taylor MP.Gassing up your own post? That’s a social media fail and a half! So what actually happened?Considering there’s only a few people who have access to a politician’s social media accounts – usually their close personal staff – it’s a good question.The comment was quickly deleted, once screenshots went viral, and his office at the time declined to say what happened.One potential explanation was that a staff member had planned to comment from their personal account, hyping up the boss while posing as an ordinary punter – but forgot to switch from their work profile to their own, thus Taylor’s own account lavishing praise on itself.
That’s pretty funny, but politicians do cringe things all the time.Why did this one go so viral?It’s just the perfect reaction gag for many occasions.Want to sarcastically “congratulate” your mate for a job not very well done? “Great move, well done Angus.” Want to poke fun at yourself for a bit of a balls up? “Great move, well done Angus.” Someone suggests Friday knock-off drinks in the group chat? “Great move, well done Angus.
”The combination of earnest praise and shameless self-congratulation led to this taking on a life of its own – only exacerbated by Taylor’s later bumbling scandals, such as allegedly forged documents about Clove Moore’s travel, his claims that he lived “down the corridor” at Oxford University from the author Naomi Wolf (which she denied), his less-than-stellar performances in parliament as shadow treasurer, and questions about his work ethic from former Liberal colleague Hollie Hughes.It appears in my group chats and everyday conversation at least once a week (although that might say more about the extreme level of political nerdiness of my friend groups), but the meme was really vaulted into the public consciousness by the Betoota Advocate, the Chaser and others.It’s been almost seven years since the social media self-pat on the back.Who is still talking about it?Critics inside and outside the parliament haven’t let him forget it.When Taylor posted videos about his resignation from shadow cabinet and his leadership run, the comment streams were filled with many people saying the same thing: “Fantastic.
Great move.Well done Angus.”Sign up: AU Breaking News emailOn Wednesday, referencing a video that Taylor had recently published online about visiting a military base, defence minister Richard Marles sarcastically said: “Fantastic, great move, well done Angus!”Labor has been enjoying reminding people of the gag as Taylor’s leadership spill slowly unrolled; the fellow minister Kristy McBain referenced it in another question time answer, as did Sam Rae.The independent MP Monique Ryan sledged Taylor with a “great move” in a speech last year, as did the assistant treasurer Daniel Mulino, while Labor’s Dan Repacholi once described him as “the man who is so starved of support that he once replied to his own Facebook post … Even his own supporters aren’t willing to pat him on the back, so he had to do it himself.”And when the independent MP Andrew Gee was sprung doing the same thing last year, commenting on his own Facebook post, we described it as “doing an Angus Taylor”.
Despite the sledging from the government, the leadership spill is looking pretty good for Angus at this point, so what do you reckon the headlines will read if he wins?I might let you figure that out.But let me finish by saying, fantastic work on this conversation Krishani.Great move.Well done Josh.
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